Hot Double-Take: 13 Literary Doppelgängers

Doppelgängers are everywhere. You even probably have one. (Don’t worry—if she hasn’t shown herself to you, it’s not time yet…) Evil twins and mysterious doubles are even more common in literature than they are in life, of course—see the work of Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel García Márquez, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, José Saramago, and Tana French, among others. But that’s not the kind of literary doppelganger we’re talking about here.

Have you ever stared at an author photo on the back of a book and thought now where have I seen that face before? Well, just in case you have, we here at the Literary Hub offices have managed to identify a few dead-on dopplegängers for some famous writers, in hopes one of them might finally ease your mind. They don’t have to be literal twins, of course—just similar enough for a double-take. NB that this list is a product of brainstorming in the office (special shout out to our editorial fellow Angel Nafis, who is very good at this), phoning numerous friends, and poking around on the internet, and that the game is ongoing—so feel free to add more uncanny twins in the comments. Welcome to Doppelgängland.

Allen Ginsberg & Jeff Goldblum

Tracee Ellis Ross & Zadie Smith

Al Pacino & Leonard Michaels

Rivka Galchen & Alanis Morissette

John Steinbeck & Paul Walker

David Gates & Larry David

Teju Cole & Mos Def

Roberto Bolaño & Diego Luna

Louise Erdrich & Charlotte Rampling

Oscar Isaac & Nathan Englander

Paul Lynch & Jason Schwartzman

Dax Shepard & Michael Chabon

Bonus (Lit Hub will accept no credit nor responsibility for this, call NY Daily News):

Ellen DeGeneres & Henry David Thoreau